


Bruised Ego

by specialisthalstead



Series: SWAT!Jay Alternate Universe [4]
Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Hurt/Comfort, SWAT!Jay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:02:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24238507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/specialisthalstead/pseuds/specialisthalstead
Summary: "Jay's at Med. Apparently he got injured during training." She sighs. "It's probably nothing, otherwise they would've called, but he can be a really lousy patient and he's gonna insist on checking himself out AMA."Hank nods in understanding. "Not the first time?"She sighs again, then rolls her eyes and confirms. "Not the first time."
Relationships: Jay Halstead/Hailey Upton
Series: SWAT!Jay Alternate Universe [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1743577
Comments: 9
Kudos: 94





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted on [tumblr](https://bleedinghearthalstead.tumblr.com/post/618658227098353664/).

"Target's name is Nathan Wilkins, 34 years old, served five years at Stateville for aggravated assault and armed robbery, recently paroled and eager to go back for another stint. Uniforms picked up his former cell mate James Warner yesterday after he was caught at a routine traffic stop with C4 and body armor in his trunk. Warner shared on his own volition that he and Wilkins were planning on hitting an underground money laundering operation in Pilsen-"

"Shit." All eyes turn to Hailey, who is frowning at her phone.

"Anything you want to share with class?" Adam asks, who was in the middle of his debrief, before Hailey's exclamation interrupted him.

"Sorry, keep going," she mutters, but she doesn't look up from her phone, quickly typing a reply, her expression sour.

Adam frowns. "Everything alright?"

"Yes, it's just-" She stops herself. "No, I'm sorry, I need to go." Hailey stands up from her seat on her desk, grabs her jacket off her chair and briskly walks off.

This is absolutely unusual behavior coming from Hailey, so Hank steps in and calls to her, "Detective Upton." Hailey skids to a halt before she reaches the stairs. "My office, now." Her sergeant's tone doesn't leave any room for discussion, but she also really doesn't have time for this, so she hurries into Hank's office, waiting impatiently for him to follow her. The whole team watches silently as their sergeant steps into his office after her and closes the door behind him. "Do you want to tell me what this is about?"

Hailey is fidgeting, not looking him in the eye. "I just really need to go right now. I'll be back soo-"

"Hailey," Hank snaps at her. "What is going on?"

She flinches slightly at his sharp tone. "Uhm, Jay's at Med. Apparently he got injured during training." She sighs. "It's probably nothing, otherwise they would've called, but he can be a really lousy patient and he's gonna insist on checking himself out AMA."

Hank nods in understanding. "Not the first time?"

She sighs again, then rolls her eyes and confirms. "Not the first time."

The older man nods again. "Go." At Hailey's hesitation, he repeats, "I said 'go'."

"Thanks, Hank," she says gratefully. "I'll be back in a couple of hours." With that, she rushes out the door, her team mates watching her in various degrees of confusion.

She only hears Hank's loud "Get back to work, people!" behind her.

* * * * *

When she gets to Gaffney, Jay is sitting on an exam bed and a nurse is sitting across from him. She is in the middle of putting a cast on Jay's left hand. Jay is wearing green gym shorts and a ratty grey Army t-shirt that he likes to wear when he works out. There's some new scrapes and bruises on his arms and legs, but he doesn't look any worse for wear.

As soon as he sees Hailey, he groans. "Who called you?"

Seeing with her own eyes that her husband is in fact fine, Hailey rolls her eyes at him. "Mitch texted me. He said you broke your hand when you fell off the cargo net."

"Mitch and his big mouth, I swear," Jay mutters, then indignantly says, "and I didn't 'fall'. Mitch and his fucking massive clown feet stomped on my hand, so it's his fault, and then my foot got caught in the net when I fe-" He stops himself before he finishes the word.

"Fell and landed on your hand?"

Jay continues his rant. "-and the coward doesn't even show up here himself, he calls-"

"Texted."

"-my wife!" He fumes. "Wait till I get my hands on fucking Bigfoot-"

Hailey walks up to him and puts her hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down so the nurse can finish her task without him moving around agitatedly. "You done?"

Jay deflates as soon as Hailey touches him. "Yes."

Hailey nods. "What did the doctor say?"

"Heeeeeyyy," comes from the door of the exam room, "if it isn't my favorite sister-in-law!"

Jay shakes his head while Hailey smiles and hugs the red-headed doctor that is her second-favorite Halstead. "Will, haven't seen you in a while."

"Well, I wish I saw you more often." He turns to Jay and pointedly looks at his broken hand that is being wrapped in bright white plaster. "At least I wish I saw less of this tire fire of a human being." Will anticipates his brother's reaction and narrowly dodges Jay's swing at him.

"Fuck off," the younger Halstead grumbles.

Hailey ignores their antics. "Is he going to be alright?"

"Yeah." Will walks up to the light box on the wall and points out the break or rather breaks on Jay's x-ray. "He broke the metacarpal bones of his left index and middle fingers, but they're clean breaks and the fractures are lined up, so they should heal without problem. He's gonna have the cast for at least three weeks-" Jay groans. "-and the doctor will determine at the check-up if he can have the cast removed. He'll probably have to wear a splint for another three weeks afterwards."

Jay rubs his healthy right hand over his face. "Six weeks!?" Hailey looks at Jay with a pained expression – this isn't going to be pretty. Her husband can get very restless when he cannot be physically active.

Will just rolls his eyes. "This isn't the first time you've broken your hand, this shouldn't be news to you."

"Again, fuck off."

"Well, stop breaking your damn hand."

Before the urge to slap them both upside the head gets too much, the only reason stopping her being that Jay is currently being treated at the hospital, Hailey quickly shuts down their bickering. "Guys, that's enough." She swears that the brothers are worse than her two nephews who are still in kindergarten.

"I'm all done now, Officer Halstead," the nurse announces and the two men at least look a little bit embarrassed that they had an unwitting audience.

Jay and Hailey thank the nurse and Will smiles at her apologetically. "Yeah, thanks, Lisa."

"No problem, Dr. Halstead."

As soon as the nurse is out of the room, Jay hops off the bed. "We done here?" He holds up his newly casted hand and looks at it in disdain.

Will nods. "You know the drill, be careful with the cast for a day or two until it's fully dried out, don't get the cast wet-"

"And don't stick anything down the cast, blah-di-blah." His older brother rolls his eyes at him. He and Hailey both know that Jay is terrible at that last bit, the itch usually the first thing that drives him mad.

"Here's a prescription for some pain medication." Will hands the note to Hailey and Jay just gives him the side eye.

Hailey reads over the prescription and it's just over-the-counter pain relievers that she doubts Jay is willing to take, but she'll make him take some later, whether he wants to or not. She notices that Jay is getting antsy, so she tries to wrap up their visit to Med as quickly as possible. "I gotta get back to work, let's get you home, huh?" Jay eagerly nods and they say their goodbyes to Will. "Will, why don't you come over to the house after your shift, watch the Blackhawks game with us?"

"Sure, why not."

All three of them know that this is code for 'keep Jay company in case Hailey can't get away from work'.

* * * * *

As soon as they get in the door of their house, Jay toes off his sneakers and walks straight into their living room, plopping down on the couch. Kicking up his feet on the coffee table and leaning back against the cushions, he lets out a relieved sigh. Hailey walks through to the kitchen and gets a glass of water, then hands two pills to Jay.

"Drink up." Jay grimaces at the pills that she dropped in his right hand, so Hailey adds, "It's just Advil."

"Fine," he huffs and pops them in his mouth, washing them down with the water that he takes from Hailey. Satisfied, she takes the glass back from him and goes to refill it, leaving it on the coffee table next to Jay's feet.

"Do you want to shower?" At Hailey's question, Jay looks down at himself. His grey shirt is stained with sweat and dirt. He pulls up the collar and sniffs, wrinkling his nose. He did run five miles and was on his second lap of the obstacle course when Mitch had not so gracefully squashed his hand and caused his fall. His wife nods before he says anything. "Come on, I'll help."

Jay sighs, but gets up and they walk upstairs together. He heads straight for the bathroom. Hailey disappears and comes back with a plastic bag and tape. While she was gone, Jay took off his shirt and shorts and is waiting for her in only his boxer briefs. All of her attention is on something else though. There is a huge red and purple bruise on the left side of his torso.

He catches her staring. "Nothing's broken, Ethan checked."

She tilts her head at him. "Anything else I need to know about?"

"Just my bruised ego," Jay laments. "The guys won't ever let me live that down."

"You sure you didn't hit your head too?" She sticks out her tongue at him.

"Ha ha, really funny."

Hailey takes the plastic bag and puts it over his cast, fixing it with tape. She nods at the shower. "You start and I'll help you with your right arm and back." Jay nods and then drops his boxer briefs. After she watches him step into the shower and close the curtain, she busies herself with grabbing his dirty clothes from the floor and throwing them in the hamper, then goes to their bedroom and comes back with a fresh t-shirt, boxers and sweatpants, the bathroom now steaming up.

Jay is standing under the hot water spray, his left fingertips hanging on to the curtain rail so his left hand is raised over his head. He is gingerly rubbing a wash cloth over his left side when the shower curtain opens behind him and he hears Hailey's voice, "Here, let me do the rest."

He hands her the wash cloth and winks at her. "Don't get wet." Hailey rolls her eyes.

"Turn your back to me and lift your right arm up a little," she directs him, then proceeds to carefully scrub his right arm and back, mindful not to put too much pressure on his injured side. She then motions for Jay to hand her the detachable shower head and rinses his back. When she is finished, she kisses him in the middle of his back. "All done."

He turns around and smiles when his wife hands him a towel. Leaning in, he gives her a soft kiss. "Thanks, babe." Before Jay can pull away, Hailey puts her hand on the back of his head and deepens the kiss, her fingers playing with the wet hair at the nape of his neck. When Hailey breaks away too soon, for Jay's taste anyways, he pouts. Hailey gives him a quick peck in apology, then sighs, "I really need to get back to work."

He is still pouting when he starts drying himself off, but then he quietly says, "You really didn't have to come to the hospital, I know you're busy." And it isn't like he didn't want her there, he always wants her by his side, but it really wasn't that bad and he swears he would've called her as soon as he was home.

"Just next time, text me yourself." Jay looks confused. "Or tell Mitch to text in full sentences. His first message just read 'Jay's at the hospital' and then he didn't reply for ten minutes."

"Fuck's sake." He pinches the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine, I just got worried and by the time Mitch texted me back saying that you broke your hand, I was already on the way."

Jay kisses Hailey once more. "Again, I'm sorry. And I'm gonna smash Mitch's phone."

"Good." Hailey giggles, then throws the pair of boxers at Jay's face. "Now put on some clothes, lover boy."

* * * * *

Back at the district, the team is setting up for a raid of Wilkins' house. Hank pulls her to the side before she can go down to the basement to prepare her gear with the rest of the unit. "All good?"

Hailey gives her sergeant a small smile. "Yeah, he's fine. Thanks for letting me go."

Hank grunts and nods. "I'm sure that broken hand won't stop him for very long." With that, he walks off.

Hailey never figures out how the hell he knew that Jay broke his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is a bonus scene :)


	2. Bonus Scene

It's after 10 p.m. when Hailey gets back home, so the hockey game is already over. When she enters the living room, Jay and Will are lounging on the big sofa, Jay's left arm propped up on a pillow in his lap. They are watching reruns of The Simpsons and there's dirty dishes and beer bottles littering the coffee table. Figures. She is about to tell them off, but then she hears a noise coming from the kitchen.

"Hey, babe." Jay turns away from the TV to look at her and gives her a soft smile. He looks tired but relaxed. Again, there's a clanging sound, followed by a low curse. "Mitch made an apology lasagna."

She is greeted with the sight of a big burly man wearing her flowery chef's apron. "Oh hey, Hailey." Mitch looks at her nervously. "There's some leftover lasagna in the kitchen for you. I made sure the boys didn't eat the whole thing." He's gesturing for her to take a seat (or to not come into the kitchen?). "Sit down, I'll warm it up for you!"

Mitch scurries away and Hailey gives Jay a pointed look when he snorts. "What did you do?"

Jay points at himself with an innocent smile, which is obviously and totally fake. "Me? Nothing. Mitch is just really sorry he upset you with his texts today."

Hailey rolls her eyes, but steps over Jay's feet that are stretched out in front of him, then drops down on the couch between him and Will. She snuggles into Jay's right side and he slips his arm over her shoulders. She leans up and gives him a chaste kiss. "How's the hand?"

Her husband raises the offending object and turns his arm. There's already a SWAT sticker adorning the damn thing. "Sucks, but I'll live."

Mitch comes back with a massive and steaming hot piece of lasagna and puts it on the coffee table in front of Hailey, clearing away the dirty plates and bottles. He hands her cutlery and a napkin. "Thanks, Mitch."

"I'm really sorry, Hailey," he blurts out. Will and Jay try but fail to hold back their laughs. Hailey glares at both of them.

"It's okay, Mitch. It's not your fault Jay is so accident prone." Mitch lets out his breath, relieved. Will snort laughs and Jay punches him in the arm behind Hailey's back.

"Babe, that's harsh," Jay complains. Hailey just smirks at him and digs into her lasagna.


End file.
